The Jagannath deity, brought by Jagadish Pandit from Puri dham, was kept under a bata tree near the Ganges, and later the king of Krishnanagara, Krishna Chandra, had a temple built there for Him. When the temple became old and dilapidated, Umesh Chandra Majumdar’s wife Mokshada Devi arranged for repairs to be made. The temple building has no spire, but has been constructed in the manner of an ordinary house. At Jashora dham, along with Lord Jagannath, it houses Sri Sri Radha Vallabha and Gaura-Gopal deities. The staff that Jagadish Pandit used to carry the deity from Puri continues to be kept there. Devotees for the service of the Lord Jagannath deity donated a large amount of land, but over the course of time, Jagadish Pandit’s descendants sold it off in order to keep the service of the deity alive. No Rathayatra festival is held here, though His Snana-yatra is celebrated with great pomp. On that occasion, the deity is carried from the temple to an altar built in a large field not far from the temple for the purpose of the bathing ritual. A mela or fair is also held in the field, attracting countless people. This Jashora Lord Jagannath Snana Yatra fair is still very well known. There is also a 500 year-old dais (wooden platform) for Dolayatra at the site that is used to swing the Radha Vallabha on Phalguni purnima.

Siddha Bhagavan Das Babaji of Khalna stayed in Jashora for some time to do his bhajana. There is an annual festival celebrating Jagadish Pandit’s disappearance day on the third day of the waxing moon (shukla trtiya) in the month of Paush (December-January). His appearance day is the twelfth day of the waxing moon (shukla dvadasi) in the same month.

Jagadish Pandit’s temple is currently under the management of the Sri Chaitanya Gaudiya Math. How this came to pass was described in the Chaitanya Vani magazine (2.9) in the following way:

”The Supreme Lord is most affectionate to His devotees and is conquered by their love. How many different stratagems He engages in just to accept the service of His devotee! Though served in Goloka by hundreds of thousands of goddesses of fortune, Govinda still seems not to have enough people to serve Him. It is as though He feels the service is not being conducted as it should. How many tricks He plays in order to engage the devotee He wants in His service!

Just look at the ploy that Govardhana-dhari Gopal used to engage Madhavendra Puri. Lord’s previous pujari had hidden Him in the jungle on top of Govardhana out of his fear of Muslim marauders. Gopal waited there patiently until Puripada happened by. He said to him, “I have been waiting impatiently for you for many days, just wondering when Madhavendra Puri will come to render Me service?” The Lord is playing His cosmic game, and these are all different aspects of His pastimes.

So now, the very same Lord Jagannath and Gaura Gopal deities who were worshiped by Nityananda Prabhu’s dear associate, Jagadish Pandit, have similarly displayed the wonderful pastime of voluntarily offering Themselves to the great devotee, Tridandi Swami Srimad Bhakti Dayita Madhava Maharaj, in order to accept his service.”

Due to increasing monetary difficulties, three of Jagadish Pandit’s descendants, Vishvanath Goswami, Shambhunath Mukhopadhyaya, Mrityunjaya Mukhopadhyaya, had come to realize that they were no longer able to maintain the day-to-day service nor undertake the annual festivals of their ancestral deities. The condition of the temple buildings had also deteriorated and they were unable to make the necessary repairs. As a result, they decided to take the counsel of Sri Panchu Thakura of Jashora and Santosh Kumar Mallik of Ranaghat, and eventually surrender the temple, without conditions, to our most revered spiritual master, the founder acharya of Sri Chaitanya Gaudiya Math, Om 108 Sri Srimad Bhakti Dayita Madhava Goswami Maharaj. Guru Maharaj immediately spent a large sum of money on making the needed repairs and improvements to the temple, adding electric lighting and a new hostel building.

In the first year after taking over Lord Jagannath’s service, Guru Maharaj came to the annual festival and personally sat several thousand men and women in the neighboring field and fed them with maha prasad. Whoever witnessed that event still feel goose bumps when as they remember the ecstasy that flooded over Jashora on that day.